- Antidepressant rates soared 64 percent faster among 12- to 25-year-olds
- The dispensing rate increased 130 percent faster among women ages 12 to 17.
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Antidepressant prescriptions among children soared during the pandemic, research has shown.
Girls were largely responsible for the increase: The rate among young women ages 12 to 17 shot up 130 percent faster after March 2020 compared to before the pandemic.
Being isolated from friends due to lockdowns and school closures, health anxiety and uncertainty about the future contributed to poor mental health during the Covid outbreak.
“Multiple studies suggest that rates of anxiety and depression among adolescent girls increased during the pandemic,” said lead author Dr. Kao Chua, a pediatrician at the University of Michigan Children’s Hospital.
“These studies, together with our findings, suggest that the pandemic exacerbated a pre-existing mental health crisis in this group.”
Monthly rate of antidepressant dispensing among US adolescents and young adults ages 12 to 25, 2016 to 2022. The vertical line represents March 2020, the beginning of the Covid outbreak in the United States. The diagonal dashed line represents the trend that would have occurred if trends prior to March 2020 had continued.
Girls were largely responsible for the increase: The rate among young women ages 12 to 17 shot up 130 percent faster after March 2020 compared to before the pandemic.
Researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed data from a national database that contains 92 percent of prescriptions dispensed in U.S. pharmacies.
They analyzed antidepressant medications given to Americans ages 12 to 25 between 2016 and 2020.
The researchers determined the monthly antidepressant dispensing rate, defined as the number of people each month who are dispensed at least one antidepressant prescription per 100,000 people.
They found that between January 2016 and December 2022, the monthly dispensing rate of antidepressants increased by 66 percent.
Before March 2020, this rate was increasing by 17 percent monthly.
After March 2020, dispensing of antidepressants to young adults overall increased 64 percent faster than before.
After March 2020, the rate of antidepressant dispensing increased 130 percent faster among adolescent girls ages 12 to 17 and 60 percent faster among young adults ages 18 to 25.
In contrast, the antidepressant dispensing rate among young male adults did not change significantly after March 2020.
The rate even decreased in male adolescents aged 12 to 17, which surprised Dr. Chua.
“It’s hard to believe that this decline reflects better mental health,” he said.
A more likely explanation is that young men skipped physical exams and other health care visits during the pandemic, reducing opportunities to diagnose and treat anxiety and depression, he believes.
He noted that moving away from in-person learning may also have decreased the chances of teachers and other school staff detecting mental health problems in male adolescents.
Dr Chua said the overall increase in antidepressants being dispensed to young adults may not only be linked to worsening mental health.
Long waiting lists for psychotherapy, for example, may also have played a role.
‘In my primary care clinic, I often heard from patients and families facing six- to nine-month wait lists for therapy during the pandemic.
“In those situations, it didn’t make sense to stop antidepressants and recommend a purely therapeutic approach,” Dr. Chua said.
Researchers said the rise in mental health medications likely reflects a greater need for antidepressants, given that rates of depression and anxiety have increased in young adults during the pandemic.
They said the shift to telehealth during Covid may also have increased access to doctors who could prescribe antidepressants.
The findings were published in the journal. Pediatrics.
